Government forces retreat in Libya’s Misrata

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Government forces retreated in Libya’s coastal city of Misrata after two months of siege, but seized a rebel town in the remote Western Mountains, with no sign yet of Muammar Gaddafi being dislodged from power.

“Misrata is free, the rebels have won. Of Gaddafi’s forces, some are killed and others are running away,” a rebel spokesmen said by telephone from the coastal city, where hundreds have died in street battles between the rebels and government forces.

One government soldier, Khaled Dorman, among a group of 12 being brought to hospital for treatment in Misrata, told Reuters from the back of a pickup truck: “We have been told to withdraw. We were told to withdraw yesterday.”

The apparent rebel victory in Misrata, the only large city in the West where they have consistently held out, is a major development in the uprising that began in February and the government acknowledged Western air strikes had been a factor.

Nevertheless, the overall trend of fighting in Libya is still far from clear in a conflict that has seen seesaw victories for both sides. Al Jazeera television reported that heavy fighting continued on Saturday around a hospital in western Misrata being used as a base by Gaddafi’s forces.

Government forces captured the town of Yafran in Libya’s Western Mountains on Saturday, a rebel spokesman said. Rebels in that region captured a border post two days ago and had begun rushing supplies to towns under attack, saying they were cheered by reports from Misrata.

“Gaddafi brigades seized control of the (Yafran) town centre and we are currently in nearby villages,” a rebel spokesman, who identified himself as Ezref, told Al Arabiya television.

“They are firing mortars and Grad missiles,” he said, adding that he had counted more than 44 Grad rockets fired in one hour.

Libya’s deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, said NATO airstrikes had hit targets in Sirte, Gharyan, Aziziyah, Tripoli and Hira on Saturday and denied the army had left Misrata.

“The armed forces did not withdraw from Misrata. They stopped operations in Misrata because the tribal leaders in Misrata decided to take action to return life,” he said.

He said 60,000 civilians were ready to fight for the town. The rebels say very few people around Misrata back Gaddafi and have accused him of paying mercenaries to pose as locals.

Western powers have been bombing Libyan positions for more than a month. The United States, Britain and France say they will not stop their air war until Gaddafi leaves office.

Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi crossed into Tunisia on Saturday and then flew to the capital Tunis, a Tunisian security source said. It was not clear where Obeidi, who held talks in Cyprus earlier this month, would go next. Cypriot officials denied he was heading their way.

At least three explosions were heard in Tripoli on Saturday evening after NATO aircraft flew over the capital, drawing Libyan anti-aircraft fire.

Western militaries appear keen to take some credit for the government retreat in Misrata. Britain said its planes had attacked armoured vehicles in the area and NATO said the first U.S. Predator drone to fire over Libya had hit a rocket launcher near the city on Saturday.

President Nicolas Sarkozy told a rebel leader this week that France would intensify its air strikes.

Analysts say the scale of British and French air raids may still be too modest to bring a decisive military result. The new use of U.S. drones would be a psychological boost for rebels but no “magic bullet” to break the stalemate in a war where Western powers are anxious to limit their military involvement.

Shashank Joshi of London’s Royal United Services Institute said the drones’ deployment reflected U.S. reluctance to provide low-flying manned aircraft, such as the A-10 Tankbuster and the AC-130 gunship, which France in particular had pressed for.

Yemen President to quit; activists say protests go on

(Reuters) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has agreed to step down within weeks in return for immunity from prosecution, putting him on course to become the third veteran Arab leader toppled this year by street unrest. Protesters, who have taken to the streets in their tens of thousands for months to demand the end of his nearly 33-year rule, said they would not stop street demonstrations until he leaves office once and for all.

Scores of demonstrators demanding Saleh’s overthrow have been killed in months of unrest among young Yemenis inspired by the wave of rebellion across North Africa and the Middle East that brought down the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt.

“There is still one month until the president resigns and we expect him at any moment to change his mind,” said activist Mohammed Sharafi. “We will not leave the arena until Saleh goes and we achieve our goals of setting up a modern, federal state.”

Ibrahim al-Ba’adani, an opposition activist in the city of Ibb, said he was “surprised” that the formal opposition had accepted the principle of immunity for Saleh.“We will continue sit-ins until the president goes,” he said. Yemen, with 23 million people, is one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, and demonstrators accuse Saleh of corruption and mismanagement during his decades in power. He took power in North Yemen in 1978 and presided over its unification with the separate state of South Yemen in 1990. In recent years he has positioned himself as an ally of the United States against al Qaeda, while also battling Shi’ite rebels in the north of the country and separatists in the south.

His opponents accused him of using the country’s perpetual security crisis to entrench his inner circle. Harsh crackdowns on street demonstrations only further angered the protesters.

After years of backing Saleh as a bulwark against instability and the activities of al Qaeda’s active Yemeni branch, powerful neighbour Saudi Arabia and the United States had begun pressing him to negotiate to hand over power. “We encourage all parties to move swiftly to implement the terms of the agreement so that the Yemeni people can soon realise the security, unity and prosperity that they have so courageously sought and so richly deserve,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.